a little detail can change everything
by SKaylor95
Summary: allow me to alter the teeniest, tiniest detail of the plane crash and watch as it changes everything. one-shot


**This just came to me while I was on vacation. It's a one-shot, no sequel, and it's finished. It's about how one small detail can alter the course of history. **

**Onward:**

IN A PLANE OVER A FOREST:

_This whole surgery is going to be so difficult. How on earth did I get chosen to assist? Meredith is an amazing surgeon so, of course, she's going. But, why me? Why am I on this plane? _Lexie Grey, doctor at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, doubted herself again. And how could she not doubt herself? She was the only fifth year resident to go to Boise, and Derek had Meredith with him, too! What could she possibly bring to the table? And to add some cannon fodder to the already flickering fire currently incinerating her self-esteem, she was currently inside of a small metal cabin with the same man who she confessed her undying love for not fourty-eight hours ago. The same man who also replied to aforementioned confession with the words, "thank you for your candor". What the fuck?

_Come on, Lexie! You are an amazing surgeon! If Mark hadn't rejected you, you wouldn't even be second-guessing this whole thing. Go over to Derek to ask him about the case again; take your mind off of your personal life and focus on the case! _Lexie loosened her seatbelt and made her way over to Derek's chair. Seeing Lexie, Meredith removed herself from her husband's side into the empty row across the isle from him.

"What's up, Lex?" Derek asked without looking up from his papers.

"Can you tell me about the pat—" she was cut off by the very rapid jump the plane took. Lexie fastened her seatbelt to feel safer and then turned back to Derek, "the patient's his—" there was another large jump, then some turbulence, and, before anyone could even think about what was happening, the plane started to free-fall from the sky.

ON THE FLOOR OF A FOREST SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SEATTLE AND BOISE:

Lexie was groggy and sore when she awoke. She was also very cold and very glad to have her heavy jacket still on her body. Taking a mental assessment of her injuries she deduced that she had some broken ribs, a massive headache, and some really bad bruises all over her body but, other than that, she couldn't feel any life threatening injuries. _That's all assuming that there is no internal bleeding or brain swelling due to a concussion. _She thought to herself bitterly.

"Mer?" she tried to call, her voice was weak from the cold but she was yelling as loud as she could, "Derek?"

When no one answered, she began to panic. Luckily, she had watched one of those weird late-night shows where they interviewed random people and the one that she had watched was some man who specialized in disaster control, specifically plane and helicopter crashes. _Locate other people. _Well, she was trying to do that. _Locate shelter. _Okay…the most shelter in these woods would be the plane, whatever was left of it. _To locate the scene of a crash look for debris or a cloud of smoke coming from the burning wreckage (assuming it is on fire. Most things that use a form of gasoline will be in flames after a disaster). _Looking up, Lexie noticed some light smoke puffing into the sky to her left. She also noticed a long line of cloud pointing to somewhere in the forest to her left and Lexie could only assume that it was pointing to the wreckage. So Lexie headed left, all the while shouting her sister's name.

ON THE FLOOR OF A FOREST SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SEATTLE AND BOISE FARTHER LEFT:

Lexie broke through the clearing and saw what was left of what used to be transporting her to Boise.

"OW!" someone was crying loudly from the other side of the plane and Lexie ran, as fast as her ribs would allow, to the screaming person.

"Dr. Robbins," Lexie sighed, "I know it hurts but please try not to move."

"Dr. Grey, I have a broken femur and some abdominal pains, Meredith has a sliced leg and Dr. Yang has a dislocated shoulder. They went a while ago to find Derek," Arizona told the young doctor standing in from of her. "They bound my leg before they left so there isn't really anything to do. How are you?"

"Definitely some cracked ribs, I ache everywhere, possible concussion," Lexie rattled off her symptoms.

"Have Derek look at your head when he gets here, until then, there is nothing to do for either of us," Arizona spoke softly, slightly out of breath from the cold, "The pilot has lost his legs, he seems to have a broken spine or some sort of nerve damage,"

"I'll go check on him," Lexie was quick to climb into the cockpit of the plane. "Sir? I'm really sorry about your legs; unfortunately, I can't really do anything out here. My boss, Dr. Shepherd, can do a more thorough exam when he gets here but could I check your eyes from any sign of a concussion?" the pilot nodded his consent.

Lexie climbed back out of the cockpit and wiped her hands on her scrub pants. She sighed and plopped down next to Arizona again. "It isn't good. He needs to get a CT soon,"

"Maybe someone can have it airlifted to us," Arizona joked. Both doctors gave a small chuckle and then winced when it caused pain.

"I'll go and get us some supplies," Lexie said after a short while. Just sitting there was getting to her, "Do you need anything, Dr. Robbins?"

"No, I'm fine. But Dr. Grey?" Arizona stopped her before she trotted away again, "You can call me Arizona,"

Lexie smiled, "then call me Lexie".

ON THE FLOOR OF A FOREST SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SEATTLE AND BOISE A LITTLE BIT FARTHER LEFT THAN ARIZONA:

Lexie placed the blankets and coats on top of the big suitcase along with grabbing the duffle full of medical supplies. The weight of it was a strain on her ribs but she gritted her teeth and started her stumble back towards Arizona. The very fact that Arizona hadn't mentioned Mark was tearing her heart into a million shredded pieces. No one knew where Mark was. If Arizona had seen Mer and Christina long enough to know that Derek was missing they would have also mentioned seeing Mark. So, basically, the love of her life was somewhere in this forest between Seattle and Boise and no one knew where he was.

There were dark dots forming in the tan blanket that Lexie had been staring at for quite a while. Somewhere in the middle of her trek back to Arizona Lexie had stopped walking just to think. It took her a good five minutes to realize that the dark spots filling up the blanket were the tears falling from her face. The tears shed over not seeing her sister, her missing brother-in-law, and her missing love.

"Mark," she whimpered and turned her face up to the sky that used to hold her safety, crying softly.

"Lex?" a familiar voice spoke from behind her and Lexie's entire form clenched, earning a large protest from her aching ribs.

"Mark," she sighed. Obviously she had more than a concussion; surely a hallucination of this magnitude warranted some kind of seriously brain issue. Oh, shit! What if she had a tumor on her brain like Izzy and the fall out of a plane intensified it?

"Lex, are you hurt?" the familiar voice spoke again, this time much closer and slightly out of breath from running. "Lexie! Lex, tell me that you're okay! I need you to be okay! Are you hurt?" he spoke frantically and he gripped her shoulders from behind her, finally at ease now that he was touching her.

"I don't know. Maybe." She sighed, still not turned around, "Maybe I'm dead and this is heaven,"

"You're not dead," the voice was inches from her now, "but if you are, than I hope that I am too,"

"Why?" Lexie was crying again, her supplies had fallen to the cold ground below her, "Why would you want to be here with me for eternity?"

"Because I love you" Mark spoke directly into her ear.

"You don't have to say it because I did," Lexie mumbled.

"That's not why. It's because it's true! I have always been in love with you, I will always be in love with you!"

"But—"

"No, Lex," Mark stopped her, turning her to face him. She stumbled a small but and he placed his arms around her to steady her. She winced when he gripped her ribs and he immediately recoiled. "You are hurt!" an intense fear was swimming inside of his blue eyes.

"It's just some ribs—broken—and my head hurts" she wanted the fear to leave his beautiful eyes.

"Well, okay. Because we're going to go home, I'm going to break things off with Julia, we're going to get married and then we'll have kids. I'm thinking three—two boys, one girl. But, Lex, this is not negotiable. You have no idea how scared I was when I couldn't find you, and then Derek said he hadn't seen you and his hand is all messed up and I was frantic to find you. I cannot lose you. You do not die today."

Lexie saw him on the verge of a panic attack so she placed both of her cold hands on his face and looked straight not his eyes. "Mark, I will not die. And we will do everything that you just said and more when we get home. Because I love you, and you love me, and everything is perfect. I saw so much of my life today and you're with me for every second. Marriage and kids and now in the distant future—now! I want to be Dr. Sloan too and have little Sloan babies with blue eyes and brown hair and smiles so amazing they could get away with anything. I want everything and I want it with you,"

"Oh, I love you!" mark groaned before he brought her face to his and kissed her with enough passion to set the forest on fire.

ON THE FLOOR OF A FOREST SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SEATTLE AND BOISE WITH ARIZONA AND THE PILOT:

Lexie had given Mark the once over to make sure that her future husband was all okay and, other than some bruises and a broken toe, he was fine. Mark also looked at her and she had been right about the concussion and the ribs. Mark taped her ribs up with their supplies and now he was just keeping her awake while he also made sure that her and Arizona were both warm.

After about an hour of waiting for anything to happen the pilot started to make a fuss. "I think I see movement over there" he was pointing to the trees on the left side of the clearing. After a tense few moments—it could be some wild animal—Meredith and Christina hobbled out fallowed by a tired looking Derek. His arm was bandaged and he looked haggard but they all appeared to be okay.

"Lexie!" Meredith's face broke into a joyous grin, "You're okay!"

Meredith hobbled over to her sister and plopped down to hug her. "You were the only one no one had seen,"

"I'm fine, Mer, just some broken ribs and a concussion," Lexie downplayed her injuries.

"Actually, Derek , could you look at her for me?" Mark asked his friend. Derek raised an eyebrow at the arm over Lexie's shoulder but said nothing, checking her pupilary responses and determining that yes, she had a concussion, but what they were doing was just fine.

And so, the group of doctors and the pilot all sat in the woods; praying for a chance to go back to their lives, and some praying for a chance to begin their's.

SEATTLE GRACE MERCY WEST HOSPITAL:

Doctors had been paged, nurses were on stand by, and Owen Hunt, Chief of Surgery at SGMW Hospital, was pacing in front of the ER entrance. Two helicopters were in rout; one to SGMW and one to the nearest hospital to the crash sight. Mark had seemed fine when actually his chest was filling with blood. Every few minutes Mark would check to see if Lexie was awake while they sat out in the woods. When it hadn't happened for more than ten minutes it caught Lexie's attention. It was nighttime and most were huddled together, not sleeping, just staying warm and quiet, but Lexie's shrill cry broke everyone of their stupor. As it turned out, Mark was the one with the worst injuries even though he was the one who seemed the most fine. Christina pulled off an emergency surgery with horribly unsafe tools and postponed the inevitable. However, if Mark didn't get to a hospital, he would die. Two helicopters were headed in two different directions and Dr. Lexie Grey was not happy about it.

Gurneys rolled through the doors of the ER and people sprang into action. Alex took Meredith and Christina's cases, sewing up Meredith's leg which, thank god, hadn't nicked an artery, and placing Christina's bad arm into an actual sling. Callie, obviously, wanted to set Arizona's leg but, being her wife, was not allowed to perform the actual surgery. Instead, she had a skilled doctor brought in from another Seattle hospital to set Arizona's bone while Callie barked orders from beside her wife's head. April and Jackson sewed up Derek's hand and sent him into the OR with Callie and a specialist to do a surgery to regain function of the hand. After he was free, Jackson delivered the horrible, but not very surprising, news to the pilot that he would never walk again. His wife cried while holding him but the pilot had already accepted his fate.

Lexie was the worst patient to deal with. And not because her injuries were the worst—they weren't—but because every five seconds she would ask April when she could go and see Mark and, every five seconds, April had to tell her that she needed to stay in her bed, not fly over to Boise to see Mark.

A HOSPITA ROOM AT SGMW:

Callie walked into Lexie's room after she had finished Arizona's and Derek's surgeries.

"Are they going to be okay?" Lexie asked.

"Derek needs intense PT and Arizona needs some too but yes, they will both be fine" Callie told Lexie trying to hide her shock at Lexie's concern. With how she had treated Mark, Callie had assumed that she only cared for herself. "Let me see your ribs,"

After some poking and prodding from Callie and some wincing and gasping from Lexie, Callie taped her back up and Lexie laid back down onto her bed. Callie went to leave again but Lexie grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Wait, please,"

Callie freed her wrist but turned around to face Lexie. Her gaze was neither unkind nor friendly.

"When you told Arizona that you were pregnant she resented the fact that it was Mark's, right?" Callie raised an eyebrow at the personal question but nodded anyway. "Well, that's how I felt. Only I resented the fact that you were having his baby…instead of me"

"Look, we did—" Callie started to defend herself when Lexie cut her off.

"No! I don't resent you anymore, or Sophia, she's a beautiful baby, I'm just trying to get you to understand,"

"Understand what?"

"When you were in the crash, it almost killed Mark. I know, because I was there. But it also changed something in Arizona," Callie raised her eyebrow again at the use of her wife's first name, "she didn't resent anything at all because it didn't matter, she wanted you, Mark's baby and all."

"Yes, I understand—"

"That's how I felt," Lexie said, "I told him that I loved him in this ridiculous speech, like, three days ago and rambled about how he was permanently stuck inside of me like a disease and that I never wanted to be without him again and he said nothing—actually he said 'thank you for your candor' but that's beside the point. I meant every word that I said then but it didn't hit me, just how much I need him and everything that he is, until I fell out of the sky and woke up alone. No one knew where he was and I was helping Arizona and the pilot and I was freaking out inside. Because I want him and I need him and I love him and everything inside of me screams for him when we're apart. And when he found me I could tell that he felt the same way. It wasn't a 'thank you for your candor' it's an 'I need a while to process this'. But I guess a plane crash speeds things along in the whole processing thing because he wants me too and I love him and I want to give him everything that I can give him because he gives me everything just by breathing. And I love every part of him so much and Sophia is a part of him and I cant believe that I ever thought that I wouldn't love her or, even crazier, resent her for existing. Because I don't feel any of that. Just love; so much love. But you're her mother and you have say and if you don't trust me with your baby then I understand." Lexie was gasping for breath by the end of her long speech and Callie had actually cracked a smile.

"You want my permission to love my baby?" Callie asked, amused.

"Yes, please"

"Granted. I get the whole almost dying thing. Hell, when I did it the first thing I did what I woke up was accept a proposal!" Callie laughed until she noticed that Lexie looked uncomfortable. "Oh, my god."

"No! He didn't actually ask me so, no," Lexie sighed, "But he did imply a future with me with babies and marriage and he did sort of say 'soon' so I suppose I accepted a proposal."

"You're going to get married," Callie sighed, overjoyed for her best friend, "Thank you for making him happy,"

"He makes me happy too. It just took a whole lot f missing him for me to grow the balls to admit it. And then look what happens; a freaking plane crash!"

"I know, right!" Callie giggled with Lexie. Then, she became serious. "He's going to be here tomorrow. He did fine in the surgery and they're air lifting him here tomorrow. He'll be fine."

"Forgive me for still being worried about the whole airlifted thing. I have a feeling my fear of flying won't go away any time soon,"

"I get it," Callie rubbed her shoulder and Lexie's eyes watered, "he'll be here. He has to be. Now, for the fun stuff!" Callie brought the smile back to her face as she pulled out the morphine.

Lexie giggled for a while after Callie had inserted the drugs and then she fell into a deep sleep. Once Callie was sure that Lexie was out she exited the room to head to see her wife in Recovery. But before she headed to the elevators, Callie stopped at the Nurse's Station and made a special request for her best friend.

SGMW HOSPITAL, A PRIVATE SUIT BUILT FOR TWO:

Lexie awoke feeling well rested. She sighed and shifted around, testing out her body's level of movement and how much of the pain remained. Satisfied with her progress Lexie changed the bed into a sitting position and reached for the phone.

"_Hello, 3__rd__ floor Nurse's Station,"_

"Hi, this is Lexie Grey, I was wondering of you could tell my sister or her husband that I've been moved into a different room. Also could you tell me why I'm in a different room?"

"_Dr. Torres had you transferred there to await Dr. Sloan's arrival. It's a double room."_

"Oh," Lexie was shocked and greatly pleased. It seemed that Callie was giving her non-verbal consent to the whole relationship.

"_I'll let your sister know that you're awake, she's been asking to see you. She's on her way," _the nurse giggled and hung up the phone before Lexie could even say "thank you".

About three minutes later Meredith wheeled herself into Lexie's room fallowed by a walking Christina who had refused to sit in the chair. After the orderly closed the door, Mer hopped up and hobbled over to her sister and hugged her tightly.

"Oh, Lexie, I'm so glad that you're okay!" Meredith gushed.

"I'm glad you're okay, too" Lexie smiled and stroked Mer's hair. "And, for what it's worth, Christina I'm really happy that you're alive, too"

"You too, 3" Christina may have cracked a small smile.

The door opened and in walked Derek shepherd and Owen Hunt. Owen smiled at Christina and she smiled back, Derek walked over to Mer and, with his good hand, pried her away from Lexie.

"I have some news that a certain person who's room this is will be very glad to hear…" Derek smiled at his sister-in-law.

"He's here?" Lexie smiled a huge smile.

"Landing now. The surgery went great. Full recovery." Derek smiled back.

"We are going to need you to clear a space for him so I'm going to have to ask you to replace the bed into it's original form and people who aren't inhabiting this room need to stay over by the wall until we have him settled,"

Meredith, Derek, Christina and Hunt stepped away from the door and over to the wall and Lexie placed the bed back into the flat position. She leaned back against her pillows and everybody watched the door of the suit for a good five minutes.

Finally, there was motion and the handle turned. In pushed a gurney with a sleeping man on top fallowed closely by some doctors in Red scrubs with the Boise logo on it. He was sleeping and she couldn't see most of him but she felt in her soul that he was okay. His heart would be fine and she could continue to love him for the rest of forever.

Once Mark was situated next to Lexie, her stroking his hair, and him sleeping soundly, Owen brought some chairs in for him and Christina to sit in and Derek sat down into Meredith's wheelchair and sat her on his lap. While they waited for Mark's sedatives to wear off they played a quiet game of Lexipedia—this game had just been invented by Christina in that moment and basically, she asked Lexie anything, and if she didn't know Christina got a point and each one she did know she got a point. It was never decided the prize for winning, but who cares?—and Meredith, Derek, and Owen laughed. After about three quarters of an hour, Mark stirred. The soft laughter from Lexie had shaken him enough to wake him. Everybody in the room froze as he opened his eyes and when he looked up, Mark found a pair of brown eyes smiling back at him.

"Hi," Lexie said quietly.

"Hey,"

ONE MONTH LATER, DEREK'S LAND IN THE WOODS:

"What if he bails?" Lexie asked, pacing up and down the bedroom of Derek's dream home.

"He's not going to bail!" Meredith laughed as she fallowed her sister back and forth trying to attach the veil to her low bun. "In fact, I thought you were the bailer in that relationship,"

Lexie laughed for a moment before she froze, "What if he thinks I'm going to bail and he tries to bail first?!"

"He's not going to bail!" Meredith laughed while trying to sound firm. "Now sit down, you don't want to sweat in that dress,"

Lexie sat at the vanity and stared at herself in the mirror. Christina, who was shockingly good at doing hair considering she never really changed hers, had don't two loose French braids in her hair twisting back into a lovely bun at the nape of her neck. Some small wisps of hair were left in their natural curl and framed her face beautifully. Her makeup was light. Her naturally clear skin had a dusting of powder on it to give it a beautiful glow, her eyes had been defined with some darker colors but not enough to call it a smoky-eye look, and she wore only some clear, strawberry scented, lip gloss—because Mark loved strawberries. Her dress was less simple; not a ball gown by any standards, it flowed down her body gracefully. The almost white gown was silk with lace overlay and the skirt began to flow down her body from right above her hipbones. The halter-neck top was connected only to the front of the skirt so her back was completely exposed. Lexie had at first worried about it looking slutty but Meredith had assured her that she was radiant. Her veil, secured with a comb into the bun at her neck, was a soft tool that fell to the floor but didn't create a train.

The girl in the mirror smiled at herself, thinking of the man she loved and the future she was about to embark on with him.

"I do,"

"I do,"

MARK AND LEXIE SLOAN'S HOUSE, SOPHIA'S BIRTDAY:

Mark smiled at his daughter as she blew towards the cake. Of course she couldn't reach it with how far Arizona was holding her away from the flame, but she still tried. Callie blew out the candles for her daughter and fed her a small piece of chocolate cake While Mark watched from the side, his hands clasped around Lexie's waist, completely unaware of what his hands were resting upon.

Pictures were taken and laughter was heard, sleepy babies crashed from their sugar highs and parents drifted out toward their own home. It was Callie's night with Sophia so after grumbling about cleaning duty and the chores, Callie and her wife left with Mark's little girl.

Finally, the house was clean and the Sloans headed up the stairs toward their master bedroom, a special bag behind the female Sloan's back. Mark took a shower first, and that was good, it gave Lexie time to prepare herself. When she had found out, she had been scared for all of half a second before she was jumping for joy. This was everything that she had wanted and now that she had it, the world would have to pry it out of her cold, dead hands.

Mark came out in a pair of sleep pants and nothing else. Lexie was already dressed for bed in Mark's Colombia T-shirt, teeth brushed, makeup off, under the covers. He smiled at her and climbed into his side of the bed.

_Okay, Lexie! It's go time! You're a Sloan! Grow a pair!_ Lexie reached over to her nightstand and pulled out a small pink box.

"I think Sophia missed one," Lexie smiled, handing the box to Mark.

"Well, with everything she got it's no wonder she missed one. We should check the house for more," Mark laughed. "Y'know, the lid comes right off…maybe…as a concerned father…I should open the gift…to make sure she would like it, of course!"

"Of course!" Lexie giggled at him, motioning for him to open the box. Inside was a teeny, tiny onsie with the words "Daddy's Favorite Pal" written across in red letters.

"Well, someone is stupid because this will never fit Sophia. I mean I know she was a preemie but this is ridiculous!" Mark was looking at the onsie with a raised eyebrow.

"Can I see the box, Mark?" Lexie asked, hand outstretched. Mark placed it into her palm. "Oh, there you go, it's not for Sophia, it's for you!" Lexie giggled.

"Well it's definitely not going to fit me!" Mark laughed, throwing the onsie to her. Mark turned his head toward his wife, expecting to see a joking face. He was stunned to see her smiling and humming quietly at the onsie that she had placed over her flat stomach. She was stroking it and smiling Mark's favorite smile. Mark stopped laughing.

"Lex…?"

"Six weeks," she smiled at her belly, then at Mark.

"I Love you!"

THREE MONTHS LATER, SGMW MATERNITY WARD:

"You know, when I said two boys, I didn't mean you had to do it at the same time," Mark laughed as he and Lexie exited their room.

"You know me, always the over achiever," Lexie smiled back, still clutching the sonogram picture.

THREE MONTHS LATER, SGMW MATERNTY WARD:

"so listen little guys, I know this is a big and scary world out there—it must have been really warm and comfy inside Mommy's belly—but I need you guys to know that I love you more than life itself and I will always protect you. But even more than that, your mom is the toughest woman that I know. She is strong and radiant and will protect you from anything that comes your way, no matter what. So, my promise to you is that this world will be safe for you." Mark spoke with a hitch in his voice, "But I need a little favor from you, okay? Mommy's sick right now, you came earlier than expected. But you are both so strong that I need you to give a little strength to your mom. Because just like I need you guys and your sister, I need your mom. She's my rock and my heart and my soul and without her…just please, little guys…you defied the odds, just like me and Mommy did before you were born. I need some of your strength, please…" Mark was sitting in the NICU between his two new sons William Jasper and Connor Masen Sloan begging them and god to bring him his wife back. He was the picture of a broken man for the second time in his life, sitting here and praying.

"She's awake," Arizona spoke from the entrance.

Mark wiped his tears, and placed his hands on the tops of both incubators. "You did good, guys,"

THE END

**Well, that's it. **

**If any of you are waiting on the results of which story I will end up writing, there are a few that I think are necessary and I will end up writing more than one of the stories on my list. However, the GH had the most votes so that one will be getting written first. **

**Lots of love:**

**Steph **


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